Sports psychologist Morton is key to Missouri's preparation

Thursday

Mar 1, 2018 at 12:01 AMMar 1, 2018 at 12:14 AM

Daniel Jones @daniel_m_jones

Scotta Morton was a basketball player first — long before she was Dr. Scotta Morton, before she was the director of mental performance for Missouri athletics, before she was a massive behind-the-scenes influence for the 14th-ranked Tiger women’s basketball team.

She was a basketball player at Bozeman High in Montana and down the road at Montana State, where her career wrapped up in 2007. In those days, seeing a sports psychologist meant one thing: something had gone horribly wrong.

The connotation is burned in her memory. One night at MSU, she went 0 for 10 from 3-point range, prompting an assistant to recommend she visit a sports psychologist. For Morton, that was tantamount to admitting defeat.

“No way was I going to go in,” she said. “In my mind, I was going to go sit on a couch and talk about my repressed childhood memories and how that was influencing my shot.”

Now that she’s in the field, her entire philosophy is set up in reverse. For the most part, Morton — a nominee for Mentor of the Year at this year’s Women’s Intersport Network for Columbia Awards — goes where the Tigers go. Her constant presence fights the notion that opening up to someone in the organization means something is broken within.

Morton talks to the team before every game (even road games, because she travels with the team) as part of its mental preparation. She meets with the team regularly during the week and makes time to meet with players who want to talk one-on-one — something more than a few have taken advantage of.

“I’ve had plenty of one-on-one conversations with her where we’re bouncing ideas off each other,” said Kayla Michael, who is pursuing a career in counseling psychology. “I just think she has a really cool, unique, beautiful mind. I just like learning from her and asking her, ‘What’s new in your world?’”

Amber Smith said she went to Morton multiple times during her freshman year when her confidence was shaky and she needed someone to talk to. The two still converse over text.

Morton isn’t just a counselor. On a larger scale, she strives to reinforce the culture that Pingeton has implemented within her program.

“She really reinforces our team’s values, that each person’s worth comes from who they are and not what they do on the court,” Michael said. “That’s what makes a great team.”

That idea is in the essence of all that Morton does. She often implores the Tigers to “out-team” and “out-culture” their opponents. The idea is simple: Under the duress of the arena, our team’s relationships are stronger than yours.

Morton’s role is even bigger this year now that the Tigers are on a national stage. Morton figured Missouri would be improved this year, and in the offseason she implored the team to avoid the instant gratification — or criticism — on social media and work on relationships in the locker room instead.

“The idea of fighting for our culture means we want the relationships in the locker room speak louder than the noise or hype surrounding it,” Morton said.

That message has earned her trust at all levels of the program.

“I think most coaches would say this — we’re awfully careful of who we let into that inner circle,” Pingeton said. … “The trust and the relationship I think us as coaches have formed with Scotta is huge. She understands what that vision is and what we’re trying to get done with our program and our culture.”

The coach-first philosophy comes from Morton’s predecessor, Dr. Rick McGuire. McGuire was a track coach at Missouri for 27 years before becoming the school’s director of sports psychology and a pioneer in the field.

When Morton arrived at MU in 2011, she and McGuire made up the entirety of the mental performance department. But McGuire’s methods were a hit with coaches, who started to trust and invest in the process.

Now, Morton oversees four other mental performances coaches, who work in tandem with department psychologists Deborah Wright and Greg Holliday. It’s by far the largest commitment to mental performance and sports psychology from any school in the SEC — eight schools don’t have a single full-time staffer at either position.

Many schools will bring in experts from outside the program to address the team on mental performance, Morton said, but being around the team allows her to build a relationship with players and coaches that allows the potential for more better insight and, more importantly, the security that the information is coming from a trusted source.

“I had never really thought about that aspect of the game, but ever since I got to college, that’s been a huge part. Especially the more elite you get,” Sophie Cunningham said. “You just need that aspect to stand out from other players.”

For Missouri, there’s comfort in knowing that Morton is there after an 0-for-10 night from deep. The difference now is that she’ll be there after the good moments, too, and her words will mean just as much then.

djones@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1787

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.